Palin versus the First Amendment

Remember when Sarah Palin called freedom of the press a "privilege"? Well, Palin fleshed out her understanding of the First Amendment a bit more today, in an interview with conservative talker Chris Plante. ABC News's Steven Portnoy reports:

Palin told WMAL-AM that her criticism of Obama's associations, like those with 1960s
radical Bill Ayers and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, should not be
considered negative attacks. Rather, for reporters or columnists to
suggest that it is going negative may constitute an attack that
threatens a candidate's free speech rights under the Constitution,
Palin said.

"If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative
campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations,"
Palin told host Chris Plante, "then I don't know what the future of our
country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to
ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media."

Did you get that? Basically, Palin thinks her First Amendment rights are violated when the press covers her critically.

Allow me to invert Palin's formulation: if she ends up in the White House someday, then I don't know what the future of freedom of speech will be in this country.